Fitchburg Mayor Wong makes a pitch for $2.1M in free cash

FITCHBURG -- Mayor Lisa Wong has put forward four orders to the City Council that would allocate uses for about $2.1 million of the $4.2 million of recently certified free cash.

Last week, councilors approved two free-cash appropriations totaling $345,000 to cover expenses to move city offices to rented space at Putnam Place due to a failed roof truss, as well as initial buildout there and rent for the rest of the fiscal year..

That leaves about $3.8 million of free cash available.

The orders Wong has sent to the City Council, if approved, would put $1 million toward the stabilization fund, another $1 million toward Fitchburg Public Schools, about $104,000 toward Fire Department overtime and about $14,000 to fill two part-time positions at the Senior Center.

Councilor and Finance Chairman Marcus DiNatale called the $1 million stabilization order "a no-brainer" and was happy to see a higher-than-usual amount being put toward the account.

"There's nothing negative about putting money in our stabilization fund," DiNatale said. "It does nothing but improve the financial position of the city, and I fully accept and vote for this $1 million to be put there.

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He said he supports the measure wholeheartedly, as it will bring the city's stabilization fund up to $4.5 million.

Wong said the stabilization fund is supposed to be 5 percent of the city's total budget, which would be just over $5 million.

"When I became mayor, I think we had $10,000 in that account," she said. "I said it was my goal to get up to $5 million, and we're definitely on our way."

Councilor David Clark, a member of the Finance Committee, said he also supports putting $1 million toward stabilization and was happy to see the order.

"We've been making steady progress, but we still haven't hit that 5 percent yet," he said.

According to Wong, the $1 million proposed for the schools covers a required net school spending shortfall of about $500,000 from the last fiscal year, as well as a predicted shortfall of about the same amount for the current year.

DiNatale said he believes it to be a smart use of the money, and that it is "better to get this out of the way now than to carry that debt forward."

He said he appreciates the outline Wong gave to councilors last week suggesting other uses for the rest of the money, which may eventually go toward purchasing five new police cruisers, streetlights, sustaining the city pool, and adding to the snow- and ice-removal account.

DiNatale said he hopes to see an order for the streetlights soon. Wong has estimated them to cost no more than $300,000, but is still in negotiations with Unitil.

"If we do have the power to purchase the streetlights, that would be something I would take into serious consideration ... because the lights have been off far too long as it is," DiNatale said.

Once skeptical of the savings the city would reap from the purchase, DiNatale said he has spoken with Department of Public Works Commissioner Lenny Laakso and believes the city would benefit from owning the streetlights, but he wants to see it all on paper first.

"If this is an avenue where we can get all of the lights back on and save the city some money at the same time, it's a win-win," he said. "I just want to make sure that the data proves that, and I hope that would be with us when we have that vote."

Wong said she generally prefers to use free cash for one-time expenses, but is considering using some of the available funds to hire up to six new DPW employees at a cost of between $30,000 to $40,000 each, including benefits.

She has not yet made a formal order to City Council, and said she is already starting to work on the city's fiscal 2014 budget to determine if those positions would be sustainable later.

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